....
After successfully getting out of the hotel, Stephen Jr. stepped into his flat.
The door clicked shut behind him with a soft thud. He moved carefully, like he was sneaking into soone else's place - even though this was his own.
He hadn't been here in a few days. Maybe more than that. The air inside felt still. Like the space had been waiting for him.
He turned to drop his bag-
"Looks like he finally showed up." - a voice ca from further in.
Stephen froze for half a second. He knew that voice.
"...Chris?" He called, not loudly.
He walked down the short hallway, already guessing what he would found, and only wondered how long he had been waiting.
Christopher was one of the few people who knew the flat's passcode - maybe the only one who would actually let himself in. And after weeks of Stephen not returning his calls, it made sense. He had probably reached his limit.
Stephen didn't feel angry. Just... tired. Guilty, maybe.
But sothing felt off. The voice he heard earlier... it wasn't just his.
There was soone else.
...maybe his grandfather?
Stephen swallowed, his throat dry. Not many people Christopher would let in here without asking. Maybe one or two, tops.
He took a few slow steps down the hallway, and then stopped.
As he stepped into the living room, his eyes landed on Chris first - slouched on the edge of the couch, arms folded, like he had been sitting there a while.
But then, just beside him - another figure shifted into view.
Stephen's breath caught a little.
Regal.
And just like that, every part of him tensed.
He hadn't expected him. Especially not now. Not here.
For a second, Stephen just stood there, staring.
Wasn't he supposed to be in London? Neck-deep in pre-production? He wasn't supposed to show up in Stephen's living room. Not when Stephen was still trying to figure out what kind of ss he had turned into.
Of all people... why him?
Seeing him here, in this space - it threw Stephen off completely. A pit opened in his stomach.
Regal was easily the last person he wanted to face right now. Well... maybe second to his grandfather.
But close.
Very close.
Because facing Regal ant facing himself.
And Stephen couldn't stand who that was at the mont.
He glanced back and forth between them, and sothing sour worked its way up his throat.
For a mont, he didn't say anything.
Regal didn't speak either. Just sat there. Watching. Waiting.
Christopher gave Stephen a slow shake of the head - not angry, just disappointed in that quiet way that stings more.
Stephen rubbed a hand down his face and muttered. "Let freshen up a bit. I stink for so damn reason."
The duo nodded.
....
At so point, all three of them - Stephen, Regal, and Christopher - were sitting in the living room.
The place was a ss. Instant noodle cups stacked on the floor, pizza boxes half-crushed against the wall, cigarette butts in an ashtray, empty beer bottles rattling near the coffee table.
Still, no one said a word.
The silence was heavy, but not hostile. Just... waiting.
Stephen shifted on the couch, dropping the damp towel he had used to wipe his face onto the cluttered table.
His hair was still wet from the quick rinse, and that is how they are here in the hall now.
....
Finally, Regal broke the silence, voice low.
"You look like shit."
Stephen gave a dry chuckle. "Feel worse."
Christopher chid in. "You have been here this whole ti?"
Stephen hesitated. "Not exactly."
That wasn't a satisfying answer, and they all knew it. But no one pushed.
Regal picked up a remote, muted the TV that no one had noticed was on. Static had been humming in the background.
"You wanna tell us what's going on." Regal asked, not in a sharp tone or anything like that, more like he was giving Stephen a quiet way in
Stephen rubbed at his temples, eyes fixed sowhere near the floor
"There is a lot." He muttered "So of it I don't even know how to explain."
"Then just start with what you do know." Christopher said, his voice low but edged with concern.
Stephen looked up for a second, glancing between them - his best friend, and the man he wasn't ready to face but sohow still mattered more than he wanted to admit.
Then, out of nowhere, Christopher threw in. "Just tell you are not doing drugs or sothing like that"
Stephen let out a half-scoff, caught off guard "Jesus Chris no I am not that far gone alright"
"Could have fooled ." Christopher muttered. "You disappear for two weeks, don't answer my calls, skip every audition lined up. What the hell do you expect to think?"
Stephen didn't say anything.
Because Christopher wasn't wrong.
He knew exactly what he had been doing - and more importantly why.
He let out a breath through his nose and started speaking.
"My girlfriend cheated on ." He said it flatly like he was just trying to get the words out and be done with them.
"For real?" Christopher asked, stunned.
"For real." Stephen affird.
"....I am sorry, man. I couldn't have guessed." Christopher apologized.
"Nah, don't bother." Stephen waved away unbothered.
Actually he really was unbothered.
Hmm, maybe it would be correct to say, he was occupied by sothing more important to be bothered by that anymore.
Right. He did feel like shit, when he found his girlfriend was cheating behind his back, and that too with a director he introduced in his last film premiere.
It was most likely to climb the ladder in Hollywood, and when he confronted her, she cried and begged him asking for forgiveness.
Stephen really felt the urge to do sothing irrational, but he simply kicked her out of his flat and broke up with her for good.
"All right... if you are cool with it, then what is that turning you like this?" Christopher couldn't understand Stephen's mixed responses.
Right. How did he end up like this?
Getting drunk. Skipping audition calls.
Well, after breaking up with her, he went straight to a bar that night... got drunk for the first ti in years broke a promise he swore he would never break.
And that was when things really went sideways.
"....." Christopher waited, turning his silence into the deadliest question asking Stephen to continue.
"I ended up sleeping with soone... so woman I had never t before..." Stephen did not delay recounting the details, which he could never forget even if he wanted, except for a few important things. "I barely rember anything, just little flashes of her face the way she sounded... We woke up the next morning at my place, and she left before I even got her na."
His tone dropped to sothing smaller. "But I couldn't stop thinking about her... and not in so weird way, just sothing about her stuck with . I don't even know why but I started looking for her."
Regal was still quiet, watching.
Stephen went on.
"It took two weeks but I found her... went to her place and she opened the door." He stooped, as if calculating the weight of the next words. "And just then... she said sothing, sothing so important–"
Another breath.
"She is pregnant"
That hit the room like a brick.
Christopher sat up fast like he had just been slapped.
"....you are kidding?"
"...." Stephen didn't answer.
Christopher shot to his feet. "Tell you are fucking kidding."
"I wish I was." Stephen said, staring straight ahead.
"I just said tell you are fucking kidding Stephen...!!" Christopher stared at him like he didn't recognize him anymore. "Just tell you are ssing with us right now please man."
Again, Stephen didn't say anything.
He didn't have to as the silence was enough.
"....." Christopher just stared at him like he didn't even know who he was anymore.
And Regal - he hadn't said a single word through all of it.
But Stephen didn't need him to.
He already knew what was going through his head.
"Then what?" Regal asked, his tone calm but steady. "What did you actually say to her? I doubt she invited you in just to say that? She must have been expecting sothing right?"
"She did..." Stephen murmured, the mory creeping in uninvited. "She was nervous. She tried to hide it, but I could see it... the way she looked at - like she was waiting for sothing... hoping for sothing."
He paused, swallowing the tightness in his throat. "But when I said what I did... that hope just disappeared. Gone. Like soone flipped a switch. All that softness just turned to anger."
He looked away. Then quietly, he added—
"I asked her to abort."
Christopher's face twisted, disbelief flashing across it.
"You-u actually said that?" He muttered, stunned. "You...?"
He trailed off, shaking his head as the weight of it settled.
Christopher was completely shocked. In fact this was most shocking he had been despite all the things he had heard.
He knew about Stephen better than anyone else, and what he had to go through his childhood.
Stephen, from a young age, grew up knowing what that kind of rejection feels like. His mother is nothing but a fantasy to his father, indulging himself ignoring his wife. And as his father learned, his mother was pregnant with him, he left them.... and treated her like they didn't even exist.
It was Stephen's grandfather who stepped up and took them in, when his son died and learned about his son's secret family.... To compensate for his failures, the old man gave you his na.
So for Christopher to learn Stephen was committing sothing similar was completely unexpected.... and disappointing.
Understanding what's clearly going on Christopher's head, Stephen exhaled, jaw clenched.
"I said it because I was ...scared." He admitted.
"Sacred?" Christopher asked again, unsure.
!!? However, that's when it clicked with him.
Stephen had always been an extremist with whatever he had done.
As if correcting his guess, Stephen added. "Right. I was scared. I made a promise to myself when I was a kid. I swore I would never embrace myself in fatherhood. I saw what bad parenting does to people... I didn't want to repeat that."
Regal, who had been silent, leaned forward a little. "Stephen... are you planning to give a script for a drama, and love story? If so, you are doing a pretty good job."
"Is that supposed to be a joke?" Stephen laughed. "I an I doubt a genius writer as yourself requires inspiration from my pathetic life."
Regal chuckled to see the mood lighting up. "So what happened after?"
Stephen hesitated. "I don't know... she didn't say anything... just looked at for a second and closed the door."
Christopher didn't say anything for a while. He just let that sit there. Then he sighed, shaking his head.
"Jesus Christ Stephen... this is such a ss man."
"I know." Stephen said under his breath "I know I ssed up every damn thing."
Regal gave a soft, humorless chuckle. "Didn't take you for the spoiled young master type, but I guess even you can pull it off."
Despite the tone, there wasn't anything mocking in it. Just disappointnt. Maybe even weariness.
Stephen didn't argue. He sank deeper into the couch.
"She had every right to react the way she did." He said. "I don't bla her. But I didn't say it to hurt her. I just... I panicked. I ant what I said back then. But now..."
He hesitated.
"...I am not so sure."
Christopher raised an eyebrow.
"Not sure about what?"
Stephen rubbed his face.
"Not sure if I ant it as strongly as I thought I did. About not wanting to be a father. About not wanting... her. I haven't stopped thinking about her. I didn't even know her na that night but... I rember how she looked at when I left."
His voice dropped. "It wasn't just disappointnt. It was sothing else."
Neither of them said anything for a mont. The room was quiet again, only the distant hum of the fridge filling the silence.
Finally, Regal spoke. "Then maybe it's ti to go back and talk to her. Not to fix everything overnight. Just... to be honest. For once."
Stephen nodded slowly, unsure but listening.
Because sowhere in all of this ss... He was starting to realize he didn't want to keep running.
Regal finally spoke, his voice steady, almost too calm. "Did you ever think about talking to before all this spiraled?"
Stephen glanced at him, but didn't hold eye contact.
"I didn't want to drag you into it... I thought I could handle it. I thought it would just... go away."
"It never just goes away." Regal said simply "It just waits for the worst ti to blow up"
Stephen didn't argue. He looked tired. Older than he did just a few weeks ago.
Christopher leaned back, arms crossed. "Do you even want to be involved with the kid if she keeps it?"
"I don't know." Stephen said after a beat "Honestly I don't know what I want anymore."
Regal's eyes didn't move off him. "You are going to have to figure that out fast." He said. "Because that girl - whatever happened between you two - she didn't make this ss alone."
Stephen nodded faintly. "I will talk to her again"
"When." Regal asked
"I don't know... maybe tomorrow." He said, scratching at the back of his neck "I just need a day to breathe."
"You have had two weeks." Christopher cut in "You have done nothing but sit in this dump and avoid everything."
Stephen didn't fight that either. "I am not proud of it."
Regal stood up slowly. "Then start fixing it."
Stephen looked up at him. "I will try."
"No." Regal said, looking down at him "Don't try Stephen - do it"
The words weren't harsh. Just firm. And maybe even a little exhausted.
Christopher stood up too, running a hand over his face.
"We will go for now." He said "Get so air, get your head together... Tomorrow morning we're having breakfast and you're giving a plan... I am not letting you crash and burn over this."
Stephen nodded again, still not saying much.
As the two of them turned to leave, Regal stopped at the door and looked back. "You are not alone in this. But if you want that to an sothing, you have to et us halfway."
They were just about to leave when Christopher paused, turning back toward him.
"Hey, man. I... Looked through the doctor's reports too." He said.
Stephen raised an eyebrow. What now?
Christopher hesitated, his tone softening. "It was from the doctor's report. Look, I just wanna say... sex isn't everything, alright? There's more to life than that."
Stephen gave a small nod. "Yeah... right."
Christopher gave a quick, awkward smile. "So don't stress too much. Anyway, I will head out."
Stephen could clearly see that his friend had misunderstood the situation.
He turned and walked away, but Stephen could see it clearly—he'd gotten the wrong idea.
Yes, there have been issues lately.
But not for the reasons Christopher assud.
It wasn't about being cheated or soone else.
No.
It was about what Stephen had done after.
The doctor had been careful with words - temporary trauma, rooted in regret.
Nothing physical.
Just his own mind turning against him.
Stephen knew himself too well.
His extres.
The way guilt didn't just simr - it boiled.
He had turned that one decision into a self-inflicted punishnt.
So now, his body had shut off.
It would pass.
The doctor had said so.
And maybe, it would return faster if he confronted the root of it. If he actually dealt with what he had done.
But until then, he had carried it like a shadow.
And let people like Christopher believe whatever they needed to.
....
Stephen sat there, alone again. But the silence felt different now.
Less like an escape, and more like a weight.
He leaned back, let out a breath, and stared at the ceiling.
Tomorrow wasn't going to fix everything, but at least he wasn't running from it anymore.
.
....
[To be continued...]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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